"Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab
people want to fight."

Gamel Abdel Nasser,
May 3oth 1967.

The dogfight of April 7th 1967

- The climactic end to the 'war for water' and the start of the Six Day
War

The beginning of April 1967 saw Israel ready to resume cultivation of three
plots near Kibbutz Ha'on, in the southern demilitarized zone, south of the
Sea of Galilee. Although initially planned for April 3rd, bad weather prevented
work from beginning on that date and it was delayed until April 7th. Israel,
meanwhile, put the IDF on alert, fully aware that deterioration along the
border was not unlikely. Tanks, artillery and mortars were moved into positions
around the Sea of Galilee, while at various IAF bases aircraft were fuelled
and armed for the day's possible combat. Search-and-Rescue helicopters,
light observation aircraft and the IAF's command and control structure were
put on alert as well, all in anticipation of events on the border.

On the morning of April 7th two Israeli tractors begun their work on the
disputed plots, overlooked by Syrian posts on the Golan Heights. The work
had received a go-ahead despite continued bad weather, after the IDF had
learned that the weather was to clear up later in the day, allowing IAF
aircraft to participate in whatever fighting erupted. The day's hostilities
begun shortly later when cannon and gun fire opened up on the tractors from
the Syrian post at Amrat Az-El-Din. Israeli ground forces returned fire
and deterioration was quick to follow, tank and artillery fire erupting
as well.

By late morning, Syrian shells begun falling in Kibbutz Tel-Katzir and
the IDF Chief-of-Staff, Itzhak Rabin, asked the Israeli government to authorize
IAF strikes against 4 Syrian posts along the frontier. The IAF received
its orders at 12:14 and quickly launched its aircraft. Yet only when shelling
of the Israeli tractors resumed were these permitted to carry out their
attacks. Commencing at 13:32, the attack was led by 110th Squadron Vautours,
followed by 107th Sqn. Ouragans, 105th Sqn. Super Mysteres, 116th &
109th Sqn. Mysteres and by 117th Sqn. Mirages.

First two MiG kills

The attack was broken off however, when Syrian MiGs were spotted making
their way towards the combat zone. The attacking aircraft were therefore
pulled back and 101st "First Fighter" Squadron Mirages were vectored
in to engage the new arrivals. The day's first two dogfights begun at 13:58
with Captains Iftah Spector & Benyamin Romah engaging a pair of MiG-21s
over the Syrian town of Kuneitra. The high-speed approach between the two
pairs soon turned into a tight twist and turn dogfight, the Israeli Mirages
attempting to close in on the MiGs from behind. Spector was first to achieve
this and downed one MiG after maneuvering slightly above his opponent and
then sinking in for the kill. Romah however, found himself on a parallel
course with the other fighter. Breaking toward the MiG at full throttle
and with his afterburner, he managed to cut off his opponent and then approach
him from the rear. Already over Damascus and pressured to turn back, Romah
only managed a short burst from 400 meters away. This was sufficient for
the kill, and the MiG was seen going down, exploding a few seconds later
after taking hits from Spector's aircraft as well.

The dogfight had just ended when more Syrian Migs were spotted in the vicinity
of the southern demilitarized zone. Kibbutz Ein-Gev on the eastern shore
of the Sea of Galilee soon came under fire, apparently from four MiGs which
had overflown the settlement unnoticed by the IAF. A pair of 117th "First
Jet" Squadron Mirages flown by Sqn. commander Major Amihay Shmueli
and Captain Shlomo Nir, on patrol over the western shore of the lake, were
directed eastwards towards the intruders. Contact was made at 14:53 when
the two Mirages spotted a lone MiG-21. Nir fired a single Shafrir air-to-air
missile but missed completely. Retreating back to Syria by this point, the
MiG was shielded by the cloud cover over the Golan Heights and managed to
elude the Israeli fighters. It soon became apparent however, that the shells
falling in Ein-Gev did not originate from the MiGs but rather from one of
the Syrian posts on the Heights. Shells, meanwhile, begun falling on another
Israeli settlement, this time Kibbutz Gadot in the central demilitarized
zone. Within 15 minutes a new attack plan was formed and the IAF initiated
strikes against the posts overlooking Gadot. After an hour long attack that
begun at 15:25 the Syrians ceased their shelling of the Kibbutz.

Number Three

By the time the shelling was over, another Syrian MiG had fallen prey to
Israeli Mirages, this time from the 119th "Bat" Squadron. At 15:52
a dogfight took place between another pair of MiG-21s and two Mirages flown
by Squadron leader Major Ran Peker and Captain Avraham Shalmon. Once again
both pilots went after separate foes in dogfights that took them into Syrian
territory. Peker's first Shafrir launch was a near miss, the missile's proximity
fuse failing to detonate. The MiG pilot, upon spotting the missile, attempted
to evade Peker by engaging his afterburner, the effect of which was actually
providing Peker's second Shafrir with a near-perfect heat signature of the
aircraft's engine. Peker however, in his eagerness, launched the missile
out of envelope and the MiG managed to evade the missile. Now it was Peker's
turn to engage his afterburner and close in for a cannon kill. A two seconds
burst was sufficient to detonate one of the MiG's fuel tanks, turning the
aircraft into a ball of fire. Shalmon meanwhile, was chasing the other MiG
at full afterburner having jettisoned his underwing fuel tanks. From 1,000
meters away he fired his first Shafrir but the missile failed to hit its
target. The second missile proved to be a miss as well, fired from 700 meters
away. Shalmon then closed in to within 400 meters before firing his cannons.
Although apparently hitting his opponent, he was directed to disengage.
While the Mirages were making their way back to Tel-Nof, the stricken MiG
made its way back to Syria's Dumayr air base.

The IAF's afternoon strikes ended at 16:16 and only six fighters remained
on the scene, a pair from each Mirage squadron: the 101st, 117th & 119th.
But while IAF aircraft were making their way back to base, four MiG-21s
were taking off from Dumayr and making their way to the front at low altitude.
The four MiGs aircraft appeared over the southern Golan Heights at 16:27,
taking a route that took them from south to north over the frontier. By
this time the two 117th Sqn. Mirages, flown by Major Ezra Dotan and Captain
Avraham Lanir had teamed up with the 119th Sqn. aircraft, flown by Majors
Mordechai Yeshurun and Oded Sagi, while the 101st Sqn. Mirages, flown by
Captains Avner Slapak and Amnon Shamir, were patrolling elsewhere. At 16:30
ground control informed the six pilots of the enemy aircraft in their vicinity.
The time of day was ideal for the Israeli pilots, with the afternoon sun
at their backs, providing them with excellent visibility while blinding
their opponents.

Four, Five & Six

Ezra Dotan was first to spot the MiGs, west of Pik, a Syrian village near
the Jordanian-Israeli-Syrian tri-border area. Spotting the Syrian formation's
rear guard lagging behind the leading pair, Dotan and Lanir proceeded to
take on the rear pair, Dotan taking on the formation's no 3. and Lanir engaging
no. 4. An attempt by Dotan to launch one of his Shafrir failed and he was
forced to chase his opponent at low altitude through the canyons of the
Yarmouch, a tributary of the Jordan River. A burst of cannon fire from 400
meters away failed to hit the MiG and Dotan continued his pursuit to within
250 meters. A long burst from his cannon and the MiG went down, Dotan breaking
westward to locate Lanir and the other Mirages. The Syrian pilot managed
to parachute to safety, his aircraft crashing in Jordanian territory.
Lanir, meanwhile, was on the heels of his own opponent. Unlike Dotan, Lanir
had jettisoned his underwing fuel tanks and had closed the distance between
himself and the fleeing MiG-21 to within 200 meters. He had barely pressed
the trigger when the MiG disintegrated into a ball of fire. Lanir's first
bullets had apparently hit a fuel tank and the MiG had immediately detonated,
without affording Lanir a change to break away. Lanir's Mirage flew right
through the fireball created by the destroyed MiG, comprising of burning
fuel alone by now and not of any debris, much to Lanir's good fortune (see
picture below). The Mirage was scorched black however, including the canopy,
effectively blinding its pilot. Escorted by Major Yeshurun, leader of the
119th Sqn. pair, Lanir managed to make his way back to Israel. The soot
was soon swept away from the canopy and Lanir was able to bring his aircraft
to a landing in Ramat-David AFB.

The two 101st Squadron Mirages flown by Slapak and Shamir had flown a separate
patrol route from the other aircraft. Leading the pair, Captain Avner Slapak
knew of other Mirages in the air but not of their number nor of their location.
Upon spotting four unidentified aircraft, Slapak turned to his ground control,
inquiring whether any enemy aircraft were known to be in his vicinity. Despite
receiving a negative answer, Slapak dismissed the possibility that the aircraft
were Mirages and begun to give chase. He tried to inform others of his actions
but mistook the right radio frequency and could not get his message across.
Soon the four MiGs split into two pairs, the rear pair turning left and
the leading pair right. Slapak begun chasing the rear pair, closing within
500 meters of one of the aircraft when he saw another Mirage descend on
him from above! breaking away, Slapak went after the other MiG when once
again the other Mirage got in his way. Despite his protests on the radio,
he saw the other fighter open fire and down the MiG. As it turned out, Slapak
had gone in after the same pair Lanir and Dotan had engaged, the interfering
Mirage being none other than Dotan's.
Breaking away, Slapak suddenly noticed another MiG closing in on a Mirage,
later identified once again as Dotan's. Having gone in after the MiG, Slapak
was infuriated to see the other Mirage return to engage the MiG, getting
in his way again. Descending lower to avoid a collision, Slapak engaged
his afterburner and broke ahead of Dotan. Closing to within 250 meters,
he fired his cannons and soon saw a number of small explosions rock the
MiG, before a huge explosion totally destroyed the fighter. Turning away
to team up with Shamir again, Slapak spotted a parachute descending away
from the wreckage, and then the empty MiG crashing into the ground. Of the
four MiG-21s, only one managed to make it back to Dumayr, all three others
falling inside Jordan.

Aftermath

The IAF had carried out 171 sorties during April 7th 1967, of which 84
were attack sorties and 52 were interception & patrol sorties (the remaining
35 were aircraft that were launched but did not get a chance to participate
in the fighting). 17 Syrian targets were attacked, bombs dropped weighing
a total of 65 tons. Israeli aircraft fired approximately 700 20mm rounds
and 2,900 30mm rounds, 5 Shafrir AAM, one Matra 530 AAM and 93 T-10 rockets.
The Syrian air force had carried out 28 MiG-21 sorties and 6 MiG-17 sorties,
all patrol and interception sorties except for the four which had overflown
Ein-Gev. Beginning at 14:40 the Syrians had also operated four helicopters
on Search-and-Rescue missions to locate their downed pilots. Syria admitted
the loss of four of its aircraft, three of them having gone down in Jordan
while another was destroyed right over Damascus, in view of its public.
Yet it claimed the destruction of 5 Israeli fighters and heralded the day
as a Syrian victory.

The events of April 7th did nothing to dissipate tensions along the border
and both militaries remained on a high state of alert. On May 13th Syria
informed Egypt of an Israeli plan to attack Syria and the following day
saw the Egyptian military enter a high state of alert as well. Dusk on May
14th saw the beginning of Egyptian troop movements into the Sinai Peninsula.
The countdown to the Six Days War had begun.

This account is based on an IAF History branch publication called
"The War for the Water"

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